Air Marshals Foil Hijacking Try Over Iran

BEIRUT — Iranian sky marshals killed one hijacker and arrested another aboard an Iran Air jetliner Monday as it flew from Tehran to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said security guards who were aboard the airliner on a domestic flight thwarted the hijacking attempt. ''The plane landed safely at Bandar Abbas airport,'' the news agency said.

IRNA gave no details of the hijacking except that the guards ''shot dead one hijacker and arrested the other.'' The report did not say if there were any other casualties.

''The in-flight security guards are members of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps, who have undergone special training to deal with potential hijackers,'' IRNA said.

There has been no successful hijacking in Iran since the program was introduced, though four attempts to seize aircraft have been foiled on Iranian aircraft or at airports this year.

Security aboard flights over Iran and at airports was tightened after armed Iranian dissidents hijacked a plane to Rome in August 1984 and others forced two other Iranian aircraft to Iraq.

Officials in Iraq said they welcome all Iranian hijackers and will return any passengers to Iran but not the valuable aircraft.

Four Arabic-speaking hijackers killed two American hostages aboard a Kuwaiti airliner during a six-day ordeal at Tehran's Mehrabad airport on Dec. 4, 1984. Security agents finally stormed the aircraft and arrested the gunmen.